Migrants on the Move > 612 migrants rescued, 18 bodies recovered in Med; 6 migrants dead, 40 missing, 10 rescued off Lampedusa; 46% increase in English Channel migrants in 2 years

 

Tunisia rescues 612 migrants, recovers 18 bodies in overnight operations

Africa

Tunisia's national guard rescued 612 migrants and recovered 18 bodies off its Mediterranean coast, following multiple boat capsizings in the Sfax region. The rescued people, all from sub-Saharan African countries and including women and children, were attempting to reach Europe.

Tunisia's national guard said on Monday its forces had rescued 612 migrants and recovered the bodies of 18 others in several operations overnight off the country's Mediterranean coast.

Sharing images of some of those rescued, including women and children, after their boats capsized, the force said they were all migrants from sub-Saharan African countries attempting to cross the sea to Europe.

The survivors were rescued in several operations in the Sfax region to the east of the centre of the country after their boats capsized or broke down, according to the national guard.

Exhausted people including women and children, some of whom appear to be dead, can be seen in the images. Some are pictured clinging on to large buoys.

In another image, a woman struggles to hoist a child, his body rigid and apparently lifeless, aboard the rescue boat.

Maritime guard members "succeeded in thwarting several separate attempts to reach Europe clandestinely", the national guard said in a press release.

Along with Libya, Tunisia has in recent years become a key departure point in North Africa for migrants making the perilous Mediterranean Sea crossing in hopes of reaching a better life in Europe.

Its coastline in some places lies fewer than 150 kilometres (90 miles) from the Italian island of Lampedusa, often their first port of call.

Each year, tens of thousands of people attempt to make the crossing.

Yes, and 2,000 to 3,000 die or disappear in the effort every year.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Italy: 6 illegal migrants dead, 40 missing in shipwreck off Lampedusa Island

Mar 21, 2025 8:00 am By Christine Douglass-Williams

EU open-door immigration advocates — from globalist leaders to people-smugglers — are to blame for the repeated drownings that happen as a result of the people-smugglers transporting mostly Muslim illegal migrants from African countries to Italy.

Illegals continue to make their way to Europe via Italy. Far too many Western countries have been lax about illegals from the Middle East and Africa for too long. Now these countries have only a slim chance to maintain their free societies into the future, given their own low birthrates. Consider that since 2015, over 2.39 million illegal Muslim migrants have reached Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea. And Muslim countries have high birth rates.

Even given the danger of crossing the Mediterranean in light of the six migrants who died and 40 more missing, in 2023 alone, over 2,000 people, including about 289 children, died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to get into the EU. In 2024, 2,200 died. But that hasn’t stopped them. In 2023, about 380,000 illegals arrived in the EU via the Mediterranean. Also, consider the tens of thousands that go missing or whom the EU lost track of.

“Migrants pay smugglers between 1,500 and 5,000 Tunisian dinars (roughly $500-$1,600) for a spot on the dangerous boats.” A PBS report in 2023 stated that “demand is still growing despite the risk, and not just for Italy,” but for Spain and Greece, too. The most generous EU countries for welfare benefits which encourage illegals are France, Finland, Belgium, Italy, Germany and Spain, in that order. As for Greece, it is an easy gateway to Western Europe, given its large coastline (the longest on the Mediterranean basin) and many islands.

A new EU migrant smuggling law came into effect three months ago, but it remains to be seen whether it will serve as a deterrent. Likely not, since the EU has never taken illegal migration seriously.

Six migrants die, 40 missing in shipwreck off Italy’s Lampedusa, UNHCR says

Reuters, March 19, 2025:

ROME, March 19 (Reuters) – At least six migrants have died and 40 were missing after a shipwreck off the Italian island of Lampedusa, a spokesperson for the United Nations’ Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday.

The Italian coastguard said separately it intervened after being alerted to a rubber dinghy in distress on Tuesday, finding 10 survivors and six bodies. The coastguard said search and rescue efforts were continuing on Wednesday.

With bad weather making operations more difficult, the coastguard said it was being supported by aircraft supplied by the army and the police, as well as the European Union’s border agency Frontex.

A UNHCR spokesperson said survivors told rescuers that many among a group of 56 migrants – from Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Mali – fell into the water due to bad weather a few hours after setting off from the Tunisian city of Sfax.

The rescued migrants were being assisted in Lampedusa by the UNHCR and its partner agency the International Rescue Committee (IRC), while the Italian Red Cross was providing psychological support, the spokesperson added….

UK: Illegal English Channel crossings soar to ‘record high’ despite repeated government promises to stop them

Mar 27, 2025 12:00 pm By Christine Douglass-Williams

The UK government issued a statement in response to the boat crossings:

We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security. 

The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay. We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.

The Labour government made an election promise to stop these crossings. To the British electorate, this promise was apparently convincing. Yet nothing was done after elections, and nothing will be done by the lying Labour government. When the British public complains about the fallout from the UK’s suicidal immigration policy, they are deemed “racists,” “Islamophobes,” and far-right, dangerous radicals.

Leftist globalists are in support of open-door (unvetted) migration; and the dismantling of Western traditions, customs and freedoms, to replace them with totalitarianism.

Channel Crisis: Illegal Boat Migration Soars to Record High in Britain

by Kurt Zindulka, Breitbart, March 26, 2025:

Illegal migrant crossings of the English Channel are occurring at a record pace since the start of the year, despite the left-wing Labour government’s pledge to end the crisis.

In less than three months, over 5,000 illegal aliens have been recorded reaching British shores after crossing the Channel in small boats launched from the beaches of France.

According to an analysis from the BBC, the number of crossings since the start of the year is an all-time high for the time period since the government began tracking such numbers almost a decade ago.

It came as 241 aliens were brought ashore on Saturday, taking the total for the year to 5,512. In comparison, at the same time last year, 4,306 had illegally crossed the waterway. By March 22nd of 2023, 3,683 illegals had crossed the Channel, and in 2022, 3,836 reached Britain via the illegal migrant route.

The 28 per cent increase in illegal crossings over last year may cast further doubt on Prime Minsiter Sir Keir Starmer’s promise to end the crisis.…

It is actually a 46% increase over 2022-23. Doubt? Is that a joke, or what?